


nothing like a dinner date (if we actually get to eat)

by Silverfox579



Series: In the Shadows of a Footstep [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anniversary, Dinner, Dysfunctional Family, Fluff, M/M, Minister for Magic Tom Riddle, More Fluff, Romance, consider yourself warned, granted they were assassins, mors eats ppl, mors has a sweet tooth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27854374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverfox579/pseuds/Silverfox579
Summary: Tom is a busy man, not by choice, but by necessity.Harry is a suave lover when it comes to the important things.And Mors is...Mors.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Series: In the Shadows of a Footstep [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979984
Comments: 8
Kudos: 81





	nothing like a dinner date (if we actually get to eat)

Tom has a job.

It's generally a very boring job. His job, in plain terms, is to sit at the head of the Wizengamot while the purebloods mock each other for four and a half hours. As one might be able to guess, it's a job where he is paid to sit there and smile.

Harry hates his job. Heck, _Tom_ hates his job. Sadly, someone must be here to save the wizarding world from their incompetence. Harry couldn't be trusted with it - he'd tried, once, running for Minister. It had ended...strangely. 

So here he is, sitting here and listening to this fool drone on and on about some law that Tom is absolutely certain will never get passed. All he's really doing here is sitting and sipping his wine while occasionally nodding his head once or twice. Not for the first time, Tom muses the benefits and drawbacks of pulling out his wand and Crucio-ing the fool once and for all.

Gaius Burke was just as smart as his parents had been. Tom didn't, of course, know his parents - why would he bother remembering someone so severely insignificant? - but he could hazard a guess.

Only a true fool would name their child after the _Roman_ legends in a cultishly _Greek_ -inspired society. Gaius had to be a half-blood, at best, because no pureblood could possibly-

Well, no, it was actually quite possible. Most wizards didn't even understand what they inadvertently worshipped. Hecate was just a name, just like how the Peverell brothers were merely faded legends.

He twists the ring on his finger. The symbol of the Death Hollows stares back at him, and faintly, he feels a smile twitch on his face. He still remembers the day he got this ring, the day that he truly reclaimed the Peverell - and Slytherin - birthright for his own.

"-so you see, if we just uproot all the gnomes in this sector, we'll be able to take over the French Ministry-!"

"Pardon, Lord Burke," Tom drawls, setting his finished glass down and standing up. "I have extremely urgent matters to attend to - of the greatest life and death. You may contact Lucius Malfoy for future...suggestions."

Burke smiles, revealing a row of orange-stained teeth. "Of course, Minister! Thank you, Minister! I'll be sure to contact you again! Thank you-"

Tom apparates right then and there, ignoring the little voice in his head - that sounds oddly like Lucius - that it's a terrible breach of wizarding courtesy to do so.

"Tom!" Harry whirls around in surprise when he steps through the door, blinking wide green eyes. "You're back, already?"

"You sound disappointed," Tom teases, striding forward and pressing a quick kiss to Harry's lips. "Our dinner reservation is in ten minutes, isn't it?"

"Yes," Harry looks at him a little suspiciously. "What did you do to Lord Burke?"

Tom looks at him mock-offense. "Me? Why, Harry, how could possibly suggest that the Minister, the upstanding leader of the wizarding world-" Harry snorts. "-would do something so crass?"

"I think the word you're looking for is 'morally dubious'," Harry replies dryly, but there's a smile playing on his lips. "I'm glad you can make it, Tom. I was just going to cancel- I don't like going to places like that by myself."

"I know," Tom replies, unhooking a dark green scarf from the stand and looping it around his husband's neck. "That's why I came back."

Harry smiles at him softly and they share one last kiss before Harry calls, "Mors, are you ready to go?"

Tom watches fondly as the deity emerges from their joined shadow. He's in his child form, his favored form when going out. Tom can count on one hand how many times he's seen Mors's adult form.

"He's only walking with us," Harry explains then whispers conspiratorially, "I think I got him hooked on those caramel sticks. You know, the spun sugar? Figures that the one thing that inspires him to go out on his own is candy."

Tom shakes his head fondly. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"You'll be late if we don't leave soon." Mors says, pretending he can't hear them.

Harry chuckles and they link hands as Mors drops them off at the entrance of Diagon. Immediately, the deity beelines for the sweets stand, and Tom's lip twitches before he offers Harry his hand.

Harry takes it, linking their fingers together. Tom smiles softly, and Harry beams back up at him. They head for the restaurant, and Tom feels a hint of amusement when the waitress looks up and gapes at them, dropping her tray noisily.

"M-Minister Riddle, sir!" She stutters, dropping down to her knees to gather up her tray. "A-And Harry Potter..."

"I reserved table 27," Harry says, his voice gentle and patient as he waits for her to gather herself up. "Just the two of us. We'd like to just have a private dinner- no fuss, please."

"O-Of course sir," She scrambles to get the register and quickly ticks them off. "This way, please."

When Tom sees the spot Harry reserved, he raises a brow. It's right by the window, in the corner of the restaurant, and part of it is inadvertently sectioned off by the staircase leading to a second floor.

Harry grins. "Window, _and_ corner."

"I'm _ecstatic_ ," Tom says dryly, making Harry's grin widen. "However did you achieve this great feat, Mr. Potter?"

"Well, Minster Riddle, sir, it was really quite easy," Harry replies playfully. "I found the broodiest spot in the restaurant and immediately thought of you."

Tom hums, sitting down. "I _do_ enjoy the idea of being on your mind."

"And I rather enjoy having you with me," Harry says, smiling and lifting a glass, which automatically fills with white whine. "Congratulations on your third anniversary as Minister, Tom."

_Oh_ , Tom blinks. _Was that today?_

"You spoil me," Tom murmurs softly as food appears on the table, much like Hogwarts. He recognizes them as his favorites - not that he ever verbally labeled them as such. Something swells up in his chest, and he leans over to take Harry's hand a press a soft kiss to the back of it.

Harry smiles, warm with love and affection, and cups his cheek. Tom smiles back, and he leans forward to kiss him sweetly. _I love you_ , echoes in the gesture.

"Well," Harry says, smiling. "Let's not let the food get cold. I got the recommendation from _Narcissa_ , of all people, so it should be good."

"Narcissa did?" Tom asks as they begin to eat, slipping a morsel of venison into his mouth. "It's a pity she married Lucius. I was looking forward to her reign as Lady Black."

Harry snorts. "You say that like she doesn't rule her own kingdom as Lady Malfoy."

Tom concedes to that. 

It's a very pleasant evening. Tom almost can't believe that, between the two of them, they've managed to have a somewhat normal date. Of course, that's exactly when things go wrong.

The windows shatter as they're waiting on dessert, and Tom begins to laugh even as his wand reflexively flicks up shield charms around them. 

"Shut up," Harry says, groaning. "I don't even have anything to do with it this time! Seriously, I ran security on this place _three_ times before reserving the spot- how the hell does this keep happening?!"

"It's because we left Mors behind," Tom says, shaking his head as the assassins fruitlessly send a barrage of spells their way. "He cancels out your luck."

"I'm not the Minister here," Harry snaps back, a stunner ripping out of his wand and slamming the hooded assassin so far back he breaks the wall down. Harry cringes. "Oops..."

"You're out of practice," Tom scolds, neatly sending three Confundus spells toward their attackers. "Mors would have a heart attack if he saw you."

"Don't try to emotionally manipulate me while we're fighting assassins," Harry shakes his head in mock-disappointment. "T.P.O., Tom."

Tom merely smirks, and they blast through the rest of the assassins together. Honestly, attacking while both of them were together - well, even if they were alone it'd still be pretty stupid - was _exceptionally_ stupid of them. 

"Call the Aurors," Harry says as he summons Prongs. "And tell them not to expect Tom at the office. We've _earned_ our date night, thank you very much."

Tom arches a brow but Harry just grabs his hand and tugs them away from the scene of the crime. Pacifyingly, he obediently follows along. Work had left Tom stranded at the office for one day too many, it seems.

They apparate back to the house and Tom opens his mouth to suggest something - a relaxing bath maybe, or baking; baking always made Harry feel better - when Harry whirls around and yanks him down by his collar.

Tom's eyes briefly widen in surprise but then he quickly follows suit, wrapping an arm around his lover's waist and guiding them toward the bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Tom walks into the kitchen, a robe tied loosely around his body, its to the sight of Mors sitting on the counter, at least three bagful's of spun sugar sitting beside him.

"Don't let Harry find those," Tom says, quirking a lip. "If he goes on a sugar high, I'm blaming you."

Mors licks his lips, tasting the sweetness there, and then says, "How was yesterday?"

A hint of a smirk grows on Tom's face as he fills up a glass of water. "Good. You?"

Mors hums, slipping off the counter. The human skin sheds, and his normal shadowy form pads toward him. Tom tilts his head anticipatingly.

Mors's jaw suddenly unhinges, and Tom jerks back when the deity regurgitates a body onto the floor. Not for the first time, Tom thanks Merlin that they decided to go with tile instead of carpet. 

"I found him," Mors warbles innocently. "He was trying to hurt you two."

Tom flicks his wand and the body turns over. Burke...he's not even surprised. "You found him while you were buying candy?"

Mors's form flickers, and Tom raises his gaze, his expression neutral. "Mors, what were you doing last night?"

The shadow flickers in and out like candlelight. Tom waits, arms crossed expectantly. Finally, Mors gives in and murmurs, "I was following you two."

Tom makes his gaze a little sterner. "And?"

Mors droops. "And I ate the other assassins too. But- they were going to hurt you two-"

"I'm sure Harry will be happy to disagree with everything you're saying," Tom says, setting his cup down. "But you know the rule. You're supposed to be finding things you _like_ doing, not just protecting us."

"I like...protecting Harry and Tom," Mors says, his voice a little sad. "Can't I?"

"You can," Tom soothes, stepping over the raisin-like body, sucked of all life-force. It makes for a grotesque corpse. "But you know that Harry doesn't want a repeat of what happened at Nurmengard. And neither do I - it'll be troublesome if other people know your real identity."

"It was just this one time," Mors says, hastily trailing after him when he heads for the bedroom. "Because- Harry missed you, and you missed Harry, and I didn't want people to bother you."

_The problem with scolding him,_ Tom thinks as he tries to suppress the pleasure and affection in his chest. _Is that I can hardly find anything wrong with his motivations at all._

He makes the mistake of glancing back. Mors looks up at him with big milky-white eyes. Tom has lost count of the number of times he's marveled at them. The shade, the brightness, the luster - they aren't the eyes of a human. They're the eyes of something _more_. 

"...fine," Tom sighs. "But you know he'll figure it out anyway."

Mors quivers happily anyway, and Tom shakes his head, trying to keep a smile off his face. He opens the door and Harry blinks at them tiredly.

He accepts the glass of water gratefully and asks, his voice husky, "What time is it?"

"Still early," Tom replies, sitting down on the other side as Mors slips between them, propping his chin on the pillow as his eyes squint with happiness. Sometimes, the simplicity of the deity catches him off guard. "I'm taking one of my off days today."

Harry smiles sleepily. Technically the Minister doesn't actually have off days but Tom is an exception to a lot of things.

"Then let's just sleep in," Harry murmurs, snuggling against Mors, who all but melts at the human warmth.

Tom shakes his head and snaps his fingers. The door closes gently. He'll get Mors to sit with Lucius and determine which faction the attackers came from later. 

For now, he'll take this well-deserved break with his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Tom and Mors lowkey go on killing sprees together. Mors is like the perfect cleanup, everything he touches shrivels up and dies anyway, eventually decomposing into dust if he keeps at it long enough. 
> 
> Boy's Night Out, TMR version. (It's how they bond)
> 
> Also, Mors has a pocket dimension in his stomach. Just imagine him unhinging his jaws like a snek and regurgitating his Anniversary present to Tom- a bunch of dead bodies.


End file.
